Japan Labor Law: Employment “status” – a grant, or something the law provides?

IBM keeps using this language that regular employment status is something that is granted (or “accorded”), rather than something that comes from operation of the Labor Standards Law.

Which one of the two sounds more like it really is?

Which one of the two sounds like something foreigners make up when they want to get around the laws of the country?

[Update 5/7/12: It often gets lost in the discussion of Japanese labor law with the expats, is that there is an actual law there, and one with general applicability. Not everything can be a Bush v. Gore “for this case only” situation. Simple fact is that 30-day notices are in regular employment (Labor Standards Law, Article 20); fixed-term contracts do not have a 30-day notice. (Labor Contract Law, Article 17). You only get a notice when the contract will not be renewed.